How to Add Music to Your Nexus 7 Tablet

The Nexus 7 tablet comes with a paltry selection of tunes, mostly available through the Google Play Store on the Internet. You probably won’t find any of your favorites included. What to do? Why, add more music! There are two ways to add music from the Google Play Store: buy the music or subscribe to All Access.

How to buy music at the Google Play Store

It’s possible to get your music for your Nexus 7 from the same source where you get apps for your Nexus 7 — the Google Play Store.

Ensure that your tablet has an Internet connection.

The Google Play Store is an Internet thing. You need Internet access to browse and buy music.

Visit the Google Play Store.

From within the Play Music app, choose Shop from the sidebar.

Use the Search icon to locate music you want or just browse the categories.

Keep an eye out for free music offers at the Play Store. It’s a great way to pick up some tunes.

Eventually, you see a page showing details about the song or album. Choose a song from the list to hear a preview. The button next to the song or album indicates the purchase price, or it says FREE, for free music.

Touch the price button to purchase a song or album.

Don’t worry: You’re not buying anything yet.

Choose your credit card or payment source.

If no credit card or payment source appears, choose the Add Card option to add a payment method. Sign up with Google Checkout and submit your credit card or other payment information.

Touch the Buy button.

You may be prompted to confirm your Google account. If so, type in the account password and touch the Confirm button.

The album or song is downloaded into your tablet.

The music is available instantly: Open the Play Music app, locate the album, artist, or song, and start listening.

All music sales are final.

You’ll eventually receive a Gmail notice regarding the purchase. The Gmail message lists a summary of your purchase.

If you start the Play Store app directly, choose the Music category to browse for some tunes. You can also shop directly on the Internet from a computer: Visit Google Play Music.

Music you purchase from the Google Play Music store is available on any mobile Android device with the Play Music app installed as long as you use the same Google account on that device. You can also listen to your tunes by visiting Google Play Music on any computer connected to the Internet.

How to purchase a music subscription for your Nexus 7 tablet: Google’s All Access

If you’d rather not rack up the music bills, consider subscribing to Google’s All Access music service. A prompt for such a subscription may have appeared when you first started the Play Music app or visited the Play Music store online.

By subscribing to All Access, you can choose any song or album in the Google Play library and listen to it any time the Nexus 7 has an Internet connection. The subscription also includes online radio, as well as access to customized playlists. If you’re spending more than $10 a month buying online music, All Access is a better option.

For Dummies: The Podcast

Check out the brand new podcast series that makes learning easy with host Eric Martsolf.